Maria Patsalos

Practice Areas

Maria is a Partner in Mishcon Private and sits on the Board as Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Partner. Maria advises individual and corporate clients on all areas of Immigration law. Her clients benefit from her vast technical knowledge and experience in dealing with exceptional cases, as well as her ability to provide innovative and bespoke solutions.

Maria has substantive expertise across all UK visa application types from Points Based System applications and settlement route applications, to highly complex and discretionary applications outside of the Immigration Rules. Under the Points Based System, Maria regularly advises on sponsor licences and sponsor compliance for companies wishing to employ workers under the Skilled Worker and Global Business Mobility visa categories. She also has considerable experience in relation to Sole Representative visas which now also fall under the UK Expansion Worker visa category. Maria regularly advises on and assists with fiancée/spouse/civil partnership and unmarried partner applications and often assists such clients where complex circumstances arise. Maria's clients also include European nationals seeking advice in relation to their UK immigration status post-Brexit and clients who require assistance with appeals to the Immigration Tribunal and with Judicial Review applications.

Many of her clients wish to obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK and subsequent British citizenship. This often involves complex matters such as excess absences from the UK requiring the exercise of discretion by the Home Office. Maria assists with the provision of long term strategic advice, as well as establishing links and connections with the UK for such clients.

Maria is the immigration representative in the firm's Sports Group. She advises football clubs in the UK regarding obtaining visas for players and has also advised in relation to rugby, golf and darts. Maria has also advised various sports governing bodies in relation to their immigration sponsorship rules. Maria delivered the Immigration & Sport training for MBL for a number of years.

Maria is also a part of the Surrogacy and Modern Families group advising clients in relation to overseas surrogacies. She advises families on the UK immigration status of the child and helps them to navigate the immigration and nationality law complexities to bring the child to the UK as quickly as possible.

She is also part of Mishcon Purpose, which provides specialist and purpose-driven advice and she recently launched Climate Migration Project. Its aim is to recognise and raise awareness around the issue of climate-induced mobility and displacement of people, and legislate on the issue of recognising climate migration refugees in the UK by potentially creating a separate immigration category.

Career

Partner, Mishcon de Reya LLP

Managing Associate, Mishcon de Reya LLP

Associate, Mishcon de Reya Solicitor, Mishcon de Reya

Trainee, Mishcon de Reya

Experience

Preparing and submitting a petition to the UN Human Rights Committee in relation to a breach of a client's Human Rights.

Assisting Premiership football clubs with immigration advice for their players and family members.

Regularly advising on exceptional applications which fall outside of the Immigration Rules.

Overturning visa refusals and 10 year bans from entering the UK.

Successfully appealing refusals at the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal, with 100% success rate.

Industry Sector Expertise

Asylum and Humanitarian Protection

Business Immigration

Challenging immigration decisions

Crisis and Risk Management

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

eVisas

Human Rights

Immigration

International Immigration and Tax Planning

LGBTQIA+ Community

Personal Immigration

Protecting People Internationally

Surrogacy and Modern Families

US Immigration

Retail

Sports